Calls To Boycott U.S. Sweep Gulf

By DONNA ABU-NASR

.c The Associated Press

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Boycott-America.html

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - With appeals to boycott McDonald's and other U.S.

products, Gulf Arabs are urging consumers to punish America for supposedly

favoring Israel over the Palestinians.

The appeals, circulated in e-mails, made from mosque minarets and scribbled

on college walls, have struck a chord among some who are shunning American

fast food and fashion accessories.

But in a region where suburbs and shopping malls look as though they've been

copied from America, governments are unlikely to get behind any boycott.

America's economic and cultural presence is simply too deep.

``I won't be able to dress, I won't be able to eat, my child won't have

diapers if I responded to the call,'' said Muhammad al-Qahtani, a Qatari

engineer, sipping frothy coffee at Starbucks.

In an apparent move to appease critics, McDonald's branches in Saudi Arabia

announced this week that for the next month, 26 cents from every meal sold

will go to Palestinian children's hospitals.

The informal drive to ignite a boycott began after the Israeli-Palestinian

violence began Sept. 28 and has spread beyond the Persian Gulf. This week,

Muslim clerics in Egypt said importing Israeli and U.S. products is forbidden

on religious grounds in light of the violence.

In the Gulf, flyers list U.S. companies that should be boycotted. One said

people should stop drinking Pepsi ``because it is an acronym that stands for

Pay Every Penny to Save Israel.''

``O Muslim, you will not die for not buying Jewish products,'' it said.

Calling Pepsi a ``Jewish product'' is ironic, given that Pepsi was one of

many multinationals that wouldn't do business in Israel during the 40-year

Arab commercial boycott of the Jewish state.

Since the Israel-Palestinian violence began, some countries, notably Syria,

have called for a revival of the boycott, with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk

al-Sharaa urging its renewal in a speech during preparations for the Arab

summit in Cairo in October.

The Israeli government, which considered lifting the boycott a critical test

of Arab intentions as peace efforts accelerated in the 1990s, declined to

comment Wednesday on calls for its revival.

Despite tough language denouncing Israel and demanding more U.S. sympathy for

the Arab case, Gulf governments have distanced themselves from the boycott

call. Most have tight economic and political ties with the United States, and

some have U.S. soldiers stationed on their territory.

Saudi Arabia is America's largest Arab trading partner, according to a U.S.

State Department report, with U.S. direct investment in both industrial and

non-industrial joint ventures reaching $8 billion in more than 267 ventures

as of June 1998.

Calls to boycott are being backed by fatwas, or religious edicts, from some

Muslim clerics.

``Every penny spent on Israeli and American products will turn into a bullet

fired into the chests of brethren in Palestine,'' said Sheik Yousef Qardawi

in Qatar.

``Were it not for America's absolute support and total bias toward the

usurping Zionist entity, Israel wouldn't be able to continue its

aggression,'' he added.

Similar fatwas were issued in Saudi Arabia and Oman, where U.S. foods at one

store were marked ``These are American products; don't buy them.''

Bishr Bakheet, a Saudi financial adviser, using the imagery of stone-throwing

Palestinian youths, said Arabs should use their ``financial stones'' to

pressure nations friendly to Israel.

He said they should cut oil output as they did in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war,

triggering a price increase of 288 percent in less than three months.

But Saudi Arabia has already made clear it won't use the oil weapon this

year; it and other Gulf states are producing at capacity to benefit from high

oil prices and shore up their welfare state economies.

Some fast-food joints have seen a slight loss of customers, but nothing that

would bankrupt them.

``We're still doing good business,'' said Eric Lopez, a supervisor at a Dairy

Queen in Qatar.

Even the most ardent supporters of a boycott admit that totally shunning U.S.

products is unrealistic.

``I stopped eating at McDonald's and Pizza Hut but I cannot live without

Pepsi,'' said Jassem al-Qahtani, a Qatari civil servant.

They also realize they're up against insurmountable economic realities.

``U.S.-Saudi economic relations are very intertwined: the Americans cannot do

without the Saudi market and the Saudi market cannot do without the

Americans,'' said Omar Bahlaiwa, of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce

and Industry.

Brad Bourland, chief economist at the Saudi American Bank in Riyadh, said a

boycott would hurt Saudi consumers more than American companies.

``Look at all the cars on the street; they're mostly U.S. The fast food

restaurants are mostly U.S. The stores and shopping malls are mostly U.S. You

have to go out of your way to avoid U.S. products in this market,'' he said.

``Much of Saudi Arabia is built to U.S. standards and specifications, so do

you also boycott using 110-volt electricity?''

AP-NY-11-30-00 1539EST